Incredimmandos
by csyphrett
Summary: Mr. Incredible and his friends are asked to attack a castle in wartorn Europe to find out what is going on.


Incredimmandos

1

Robert Parr pulled at the sleeve of his shirt again. He had been given fatigues to blend in but they were an inch too small, and the issued boots had surrendered to his feet after three steps. He had been asked to meet a man named Reisman in Northern England.

He wondered if accepting the ride had been a mistake.

He examined the signs and spotted the building he needed to be at in a few minutes. He nodded as he headed toward the place.

He saw a familiar figure advancing across the yard ahead of him. He smiled. He hadn't realized others had been invited to the meet. He couldn't imagine any other reason a G-man was walking across an Army base in a uniform.

"Hey, Rick." Parr hurried to catch up with his acquaintance. "What are you doing here?"

Rick Dicker paused, hangdog face inquisitive and out of place among the Army's best and brightest walking around them. He took a puff from his cigarette as he smiled.

"Uncle Sam called, Mr. Incredible." He indicated the building. "Meeting Reisman?"

"Yes." Parr nodded. "What do you think is going on?"

"Don't know." Dicker puffed on his cigarette. "Maybe they need someone to use some rubber hoses on someone."

"That's funny." Parr shook his head.

"Hey, Bob." Lucius Best waved a hand as he came across the grounds. He wore dark glasses to protect his eyes. Some of the soldiers looked at him but said nothing. The dark color of his skin didn't matter to the Army.

They were training to commit a suicidal move for their country. Segregation didn't seem that important in the face of that.

"Lucius?" Parr and Dicker exchanged a look. "What brings you to England?"

"The same thing as you two, and Gazerbeam." Best smiled. "I saw him around after I got here last week. I've been waiting for why I was called."

"Palladino is here too?" Dicker frowned. "What do they have planned?"

"Probably something underhanded." Parr smiled. He checked his watch. "Let's go in and talk to Reisman. Then we can see about hitching a ride home if we don't like what he says."

"Hopefully we can get our own clothes back." Lucius waved at his borrowed uniform. "I like my clothes with a little less tan in them."

"I like mine not to make me feel like a school kid." Bob held out his arms to show how the sleeves of his shirt rode back to the middle of his forearms on their own.

"Let's go in and find out what this Reisman wants." Dicker stubbed out his cigarette and took the remains apart before dropping the tiny fragments in a trashcan. "Then we can all get back in our regular clothes."

"No argument from me." Lucius nodded. "They're teaching these guys to jump from planes from what I could see."

"Why would you want to jump from a plane?" Bob frowned across the open area. "What are we getting ourselves into here?"

"Hopefully something fast and easy." Dicker led the way to the door. The soldiers on either side of the door nodded for him to go through.

Bob and Lucius followed. An airplane roared overhead as they went inside.

A sign next to the door said 51st Airborne with Black Condors under that. Bob took that as confirmation of what Lucius had said about teaching the recruits to jump from flying airplanes.

Mr. Incredible had executed many a high dive but couldn't remember a case where he had volunteered for such a thing. He preferred lateral dives from one structure to another, not into the ground from above.

They ran into Simon Palladino in the bottom floor hall of the Black Condors' offices.

"How's it going, Simon?" Bob smiled.

"Okay." Palladino looked over the assembled group and nodded. "Special mission."

"Don't know yet." Dicker lit another cigarette. "We're on the way to meet the man in charge."

Palladino nodded. Seeing the group together made it obvious why they were there. Someone wanted someone stopped somewhere.

The only question in his mind was who needed to be stopped.

They found an office door at the end of the hall. Major Reisman decorated a brass plate under the pebbled window offices favored everywhere in the world. It let the occupants know someone was outside without letting the visitors know someone was in the room.

Dicker opened the door. He looked around before stepping inside. The others filled the small office as they followed.

"Reisman?" The G-man regarded the secretary with his sad eyes.

"He was called away." He stood. "I'm Sergeant Martin. I was ordered to take you over to the briefing room when you arrived. He said he would meet you there when he was done dealing with the brass."

"Do you know what this is about, Sergeant?" Dicker pushed against his comrades to give the sergeant room to get by.

"It's above my pay grade, sir." The sergeant waved for them to leave first.

The group retreated out in the hall. Martin stepped out last. He locked the door and closed it behind himself.

"The briefing room is this way, sirs." Martin led the way. He headed back to the stairs near the front of the building. He waved at several soldiers who passed on their own errands for their own commanders.

They clumped up the stairs to the building's second floor. Martin took them down to a door in the middle of the hall. He knocked three times.

"Enter." Martin opened the door and waved the group inside. He stepped back to let them by. He pulled the door shut after everyone had crossed the threshold.

Major Reisman stood by a mock up of a castle on a table. He had a brick sort of face with short gray hair on top. He regarded the supers with assessing eyes under bushy eyebrows.

Two people, a man and woman, stood by the table. The man had captain bars on his shoulders, goggles around his neck, and a baseball hat for the Yankees on his hat. The woman had auburn hair, a pugnacious face, and one hand raised as if caught in the middle of saying something.

"Captain Snoggins, Miss Truax." Reisman gestured at the couple. "These are your passengers. Gentlemen, these are your transporters to target."

"Excuse me." Best frowned at the major. "Let's back up to why we're here."

"Then we can talk about whether we're going to help you, or not." Parr frowned at the castle.

Reisman paused.

"No one told you why we needed you?" He shook his head. "You were supposed to be briefed when we picked you up."

"Go ahead and tell us now." Palladino walked to the table and examined the castle, circling the model without touching it.

"This is Einhorn Castle." Reisman gestured at the model. "Intelligence says something is going on. We need someone to get in there, find out what's going on, shut it down, bring back any notes. Captain Snoggins has been recruited to fly you in there, and pick you up if you can make it to the extraction point."

"This is some kind of Super problem." Palladino didn't look up from the model.

"We think so." Reisman nodded. "We don't know. This place is behind enemy lines and we haven't been able to bomb it off the map. It's covered by aerial forces from two bases on either side of it. Here, and here."

His finger pointed to two squares north and south of the castle proper.

"So you want us to invade this castle which might have an army of Supers in it, figure out what's going on, wreck it, and then get out of there." Bob crossed his arms. "Sounds easy. How many guys are going to be waiting to shoot us when we get there?"

"Don't know." Reisman walked to the southern side of the table. "The local resistance and our spies say that enemy forces are gathering in this town, Eisenberg. We think they are going to be moving south eventually in answer to the offensive we are conducting in North Africa."

"So when we do hit, they'll be all over us." Best shook his head. "This is a stupid idea."

"So you chickens can't do it?" Truax laughed at them. "I can, Reisman. Send these losers back home."

"Excuse me." Bob looked at his friends. They looked like they were willing to let her get killed trying. "We didn't say we couldn't do it. We're looking at the options which aren't really that good."

"How do we get out of Germany?" Palladino bent to inspect the layout of the castle from a closer angle. "We can do it."

Reisman continued with the briefing.

2

Graham Army Base, headquarters for the Black Condors, had an airstrip for training and for the real launching of soldiers when they were needed for action. Soon they would be deployed behind enemy lines to stop the enemy from getting in the way of the advance up Italy. Until then, they trained so that jumping out of a transport plane was the least of their worries.

Snoggins's plane waited on the airstrip for him and his passengers to arrive. The blue paint job would be spotted easily from above, but not from below. The twin engines were among the most solid in the world. The bay door in the back would be dropped for the Supers to do their job so he could turn around and fly home for more fuel so he could pick them up at the extraction point. The hull was boat shaped and pontoons hung from the wings so the plane could land on land or water.

"We're flying over the Channel in that." Best shook his head. "That thing will blow up at the end of the airstrip."

"She'll do fine, Super boy." Truax shook her head. "I don't see why we need you losers. I could get in the castle on my own in half the time."

"Because you're a hot head." Palladino started toward the nose of the plane. "Reisman doesn't trust hot heads."

"Why are you here?" Bob broke in before she could give them another tirade. "Are you a pilot?"

"Yes, and a navigator too." Truax paused to glare at him. "Why?"

"You would have to stay behind if you weren't." Dicker handed Bob a golf bag with a puff of breath. "Hold this for me."

Dicker pulled on a web belt with an army style holster on it. He grunted at the flap, but checked the pistol inside the holster. He put it away and pulled out his cigarettes.

"You can't make me stay behind." Truax glared at him.

"I'm the government, lady." He lit a cigarette and puffed on it. "I can do almost anything I want."

"Except carry his baggage." Bob smiled. "What the heck do you have in here, Rick?"

"My typewriter." Rick smiled. "Let's get this over with. I have people I have to chase in Metroville."

"Typewriter?" Bob hefted the bag. "You coming, Miss Truax?"

"Who does he think he is?" She whispered up to Bob's ear. "I'm the government, lady."

"He's Hoover's top watchdog." Bob whispered back. "And he's always grumpy."

Palladino finished his walk around. He looked at the bag hanging from Bob's hand. He scratched his head.

"What's in the bag?" He nodded at the golf bag.

"Typewriter." Bob smiled.

"From Chicago?" Simon smiled.

"Maybe." Bob nodded. "Plane ready to go?"

"Yep." Palladino nodded.

"Our gear is here, guys." Lucius stuck his head out of the door. "At least they got that much right."

"We can change when we're in the air." Bob handed Best the bag. He staggered under the weight. "Be careful with Rick's typewriter."

"Typewriter?" Best peeked inside the bag. "Must be from Chicago."

"Last chance to grab some food and use the latrine." Snoggins appeared. "We still need some fuel. These yahoos haven't got that done yet."

"Army food has to be better than their rations." Rick puffed on his cigarette. "Have to quit smoking these things one day."

"It's great." Best smiled. He tucked the golf bag in a set of straps on a seat. "It's better than Honey's."

"Anything is better than Honey's." Bob shook his head.

"She burns water." Palladino shrugged at Lucius's look.

"She can't be that bad." Truax brushed her hair back behind her hair. She looked at Parr and Palladino with raised eyebrows.

"Take some antacid if you eat with her." Rick waved his cigarette around. "Your stomach will thank you for it."

"Let's get that fuel." Bob smiled to smooth over the grim expressions of his comrade. "Come on, Captain Snoggins."

"Really?" Truax looked at Rick and Simon. Rick stamped out his cigarette while Simon nodded.

"Let's get that food." Rick looked around for a cafeteria.

Lucius pointed off the airstrip.

"The fuel?" Truax looked at Snoggins and Parr walking away.

"Bob can load it faster by himself." Rick started walking away.

"No way." She stood there as the others followed Rick. "How strong is he?"

"Incredibly." Best tossed over his shoulder.

"Good one." Palladino delivered his compliment in his flat monotone.

"I thought so." Lucius nodded back at him.

Truax stood on the field. Parr and Snog appeared moments later. The bigger man carried three fuel drums stacked on one hand as he walked. He set the stack down next to the gas input.

"That's amazing." Snoggins said, pushing his cap back.

"Incredible, I would say." Bob smiled. "Let's get this done."

"I'll get the pump." The pilot nodded. "We can get this done as fast as the pump works."

"Have you got a funnel?" Bob pulled the small cover off the top of the drum where the pump would normally go. Gas wafted over him.

"We got one for oil." Truax pulled herself into the plane. She returned with a long plastic funnel.

"Put it in the tank opening." Bob hefted the drum. "I'll pour the fuel out."

Truax couldn't quite reach the opening. She looked around the field. One arm grew longer to fit the funnel in place. She quickly retracted her arm so no one would see it.

"Thanks." Bob poured the first drum into the funnel while holding both in place. He repeated the procedure until all three drums were empty. He placed them against a nearby hangar to be picked up by the ground crew.

"I need to get cleaned up before we take off." Parr wiped his hands together. He sniffed the gasoline smell in the air.

"Latrine is in the hangar." Snoggins pointed at the building in question. "We'll be ready to go as soon as your friends get back from lunch."

"Thanks." Parr walked toward the building.

"Do you think he saw?" Truax reached up and pulled the funnel out of the input. She put it back into the plane.

"Don't know, but I doubt if he's as dumb as he looks." Snoggins frowned. "No one is that dumb."

"Let's grab something to eat too." Truax smiled. She wiped her hands with a rag that she put back in her pocket. "Then we can have a leisurely flight over the Channel, and get shot at by the Germans."

"Go ahead, Hel." Snoggins waved her off. "I have to do my walkaround, then start on the checklist."

"I'll bring you something back." Truax smiled. "I could do this on my own."

"We're not adventuring." Snog shook his head. "We're arranging for other people to adventure. That's why we get paid the big bucks."

"I want to adventure." Hel started toward the mess hall. She slumped along, hands in her pockets.

"Not this adventure." Snoggins climbed into the plane and pulled out his operating clipboard. He climbed down and starting walking around the plane, checking the parts as he went.

Parr returned. He watched as the pilot walked quietly around his plane.

He wondered what was going on with Snoggins and his navigator. Why was she coming along? What was the real reason they were involved? He liked Truax well enough, but she was prickly.

There was some kind of secret between them. He didn't have time to dig in and find out what it was. They would be over Germany in a matter of hours. He would have to concentrate on getting the others out of the country once they were done with the job.

He doubted things would go as well as Reisman thought. There were too many variables in play for a clean success.

Simon was a good spotter, and Lucius could incapacitate people without permanently hurting them. That left Rick and his Chicago typewriter.

He hoped the agent didn't have to use the thing. Getting in quietly was the whole point of the thing. If they got into a fight, the mission had failed.

The plan seemed simple enough. Snoggins and Truax would fly them in and drop them off close to the castle. They would walk in and do a search. Then they would get out and call for help. They would have to meet the plane at certain spots.

The first problem is they didn't know what kind of force waited inside the castle. That would cause everything to fall apart if they were forced to fight to escape without grabbing anything to show what the Nazis' were doing.

The second problem was getting to the meeting. If Snoggins and Truax ran into trouble, they would be fubar.

Then fleeing across the enemy nation would be hard with fighters scrambling from the nearby air force bases. Getting in and out quietly was the only way to go in that type of situation.

Parr was tough but he didn't want to test how bulletproof he was.

Snoggins finished his walkaround. He checked off the last item on his checklist. He climbed up in the cabin and placed the checklist in the window as he waited for the others to return.

The others appeared in the distance. They walked up to the plane, discussing options and how to apply them. Truax walked behind them. She and Lucius had bags in hand.

"Got you some sandwiches, Bob." Lucius handed over the bag. "Ready to go?"

"Close to it." Parr checked the contents. "What do you think is going on at that castle?"

"Probably some weird mad scientist stuff." Best shrugged. "It's close to where Frankenstein made his monster after all."

"I hope not." Bob took one of the sandwiches out of the bag. He undid a corner of the brown paper around it so he could take a bite. "Mad scientists love to talk to themselves."

3

Snoggins and Truax got them up in the air from the Graham airstrip, and headed east and south. The plan was to use a bomber run to get them close enough to drop their passengers off, then fly home before the German air force noticed them.

Reisman had warned them that they might run into stragglers as the bombers went about their business.

If that happened, they were in trouble. The Goose didn't have any weapons, and didn't have the airspeed to outrun a fighter.

Snoggins felt he knew a few tricks that would shake any other pilot in the air. He just didn't want to pull them out of his sleeve.

"I could have gotten into that castle with no problem." Helen looked at the dials on the control panel and compared them to the map in her hands.

"Reisman made the right call." Snoggins checked the altitude and fuel gauges. "He doesn't know what's going on, and he needs people he thinks can get in and out."

"Dicker?" Helen hurled a thumb back to the cargo bay.

"Is armed to the teeth." Snoggins smiled. "And is probably so dangerous they wouldn't let him out in the real world."

"He doesn't look dangerous." Truax frowned. "He looks like an insurance salesman."

"All of Hoover's boys do." The captain adjusted course. "How long until the bomber run?"

"They should be taking off right now." She checked her watch. "We'll be able to see them in a few hours."

"That won't be good." He settled back in his chair. "They'll be drawing all the fire in front of us."

"The fighters are what I'm worried about." Helen put the map away. "We don't have anything to handle them."

"We can shoot them down with your bad attitude." Snoggins smiled. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we hit the coast."

"Really?" Helen smiled.

"Watch the fuel and the heading." Snog closed his eyes. "Don't get us lost."

"This isn't my first time behind the stick." She shook her head. She reported their position and told the last airport they were falling under radio silence.

Truax watched the dials as the Goose soared over the water. She loved flying. She could do this forever. She knew a lot of women weren't allowed to fly for the Armed Forces except as auxiliary pilots delivering planes to the battlefronts.

She wanted in on the action. Sitting on the sidelines was for losers.

She found the bomber flight after a few hours. She started looking for landmarks. She had to change course when they reached some town in the middle of France. Then it was a straight shot into Germany to Einhorn Castle.

Then they would have to watch out for ack-ack and fighters.

How hard could it be?

She would have come in on a boat, then crossed overland. It would have taken longer, but it would be safer for the commando team.

Did she want safer, or a piece of the action? She smiled. She wanted a piece of the action.

She woke up Snoggins with a shake. He opened his eyes and surveyed the dials. He nodded. They were still on course as far as he could tell.

"We should be coming up on our turn." Truax handed him the map. "I'm looking for the church."

Snoggins checked the map, then looked out the window. He scanned the horizon slowly. He nodded when he spotted the steeple sticking up out of the trees.

"There it is." He checked their course. "All right. We turn left and then we start toward the landing zone."

"River?" There were a few along the way to the target.

"Looks like some kind of lake." Snog frowned at the map. "A couple more hours, we can land, let our passengers off and head back to England."

"I need to stretch for a second." Helen undid her seatbelt. "Think you can fly for a couple of minutes on your own?"

"I'm sure I can handle it." He checked his headset for local traffic.

Truax walked back into the cargo bay. It felt good to move around for a couple of seconds. Flying took a lot of concentration. That could wear you out more than exercise.

Three of her passengers had changed clothes from their ill fitting uniforms into costumes. Best and Palladino left the hoods down on their faces, but they both seemed to have built in visors. Parr's didn't have a hood attached to the blue and black shirt he wore.

Dicker still wore his uniform. He had an arsenal on the seat beside him. He seemed to be checking them for flaws.

"We got another two hours maybe." Truax smiled at the costumes. "Are you guys going to pretend you're part of a circus to get in the castle?"

"Maybe." Parr smiled. "We thought it would be better to just knock on the door and get them to let us inside without getting into a fight."

"I personally thought we should disguise ourselves as beggars." Best shrugged. "But the Nazis shoot beggars on sight."

"We don't really know that." Palladino didn't look up from the book he was reading. "Bob and I just didn't want to take the chance."

"And everybody loves clowns." Bob smiled.

Dicker humpphed across the bay.

"Most people love clowns." Parr corrected himself.

"Are you sure you guys know what you're doing?" She crossed her arms as she looked at them. Three of them nodded. One shook his head. "I'm glad you're all in agreement."

"We'll be ready to be picked by the time this is over." Dicker frowned at the other three. "This isn't going to be as smooth as these guys think."

"Helen." Snoggins broke in over the intercom. "I need you up here. We're about to experience some turbulence."

Truax ran to the door leading to the cockpit. She didn't see Bob running after her. He was remarkably quiet for such a big man.

"Get ready, kid." Snoggins scanned the sky ahead and to the sides as much as possible. "We got company."

Helen strapped into the co-pilot's seat. She started scanning the sky as intently as the captain.

Bullets stitched through the cabin, poking a line of holes behind Parr. He pressed against the seat in case the pilot had friends to shoot into the cabin after his pass.

Snoggins turned the plane into the attack, banking as he went. He knew the attacking plane would be diving, and would have to build up speed to chase him if he climbed.

"See if you can get him to chase us." Parr pressed a mask to his upper face. "I'll see if I can fix this."

"What can you do?" Truax glanced at him. "Number two is on fire."

"Keep him behind us." Parr stepped back into the cargo area. He used the incline to slide down to the cargo door control. "We got a guy chasing us. I'm going to open the cargo door. You guys will have to take a shot and see if you can get him off of us before he shoots us down."

"Ready, buddy." Best and Palladino pulled their hoods over their faces. "Let's do it."

Simon nodded. His eyes glowed behind his visor.

"Here we go." Parr made sure his friends were strapped down before he threw the switch. He didn't want them to fall out of the plane when the door opened.

The door lowered to drag the air. Bob held on to the rib next to the opened door with one hand and the lever with the other. As long as the lever didn't break, he had two good handholds to keep him in place.

A fighter roared in the distance. The roar of guns was drowned out by the passage of air as the planes cut the air. Every fourth, or fifth, bullet glowed as it reached for the plane.

A beam shot out of Palladino's eyes. It scorched the air as it touched the plane. A line cut through the nose as the beam shifted with the turn of his head.

The beam touched part of the wing. An explosion followed as gas caught fire. The plane fell in a loose spiral as the pilot fought for control.

Bob pulled the lever to shut the cargo door. The wind died down. The plane still climbed. How long would it take Snoggins to realize the pursuit had been stalled for the moment?

The plane slowly leveled. Parr's feet touched down on the floor. Now they had to do something about missing an engine.

"Good shot, Gazerbeam." Parr headed for the cockpit. "We might be crashing. Get ready to get off if we have to ditch."

"We're walking the rest of the way?" Lucius asked.

"Don't know yet." Bob stepped through the dividing door. "We might have more fighters on the way."

"So the bombing run wasn't as big a distraction as Reisman thought it would be." Dicker shook his head.

Parr looked through the holes in the cabin. Wind whistled through them. The control panels had a few red lights to show what they thought about the damage.

"Are we going to be able to reach our landing spot?" He doubted it from the way they worked the controls.

"We lost half our fuel." Snoggins frowned. "We won't make it back on what we have."

"We'll have to get back on foot, or steal another plane." Parr didn't plan to get caught deep in enemy territory. They would try to take him apart to figure out how to make more of him.

"We'll have to land first." Truax tapped one of the dials with a finger. "At least the engine fire is out."

"Find a spot." Parr scanned the sky. "The guy we shot down might have friends."

"We're over a river." Snoggins scanned the ground. "We can land on that and swim for shore."

"We'll need to scuttle the plane unless you can fix it before the Germans spot you." Parr didn't want to leave his pilots in a bad spot, but he had to finish the job before they could head home.

"Understood." Snog nodded. Sinking the Goose would be bad, but they had no chance of getting parts to replace in the engine away from an airport. If that fighter had called in, they could expect more planes showing up to shoot at them.

"So we walk home?" Truax frowned at them.

"Unless you have a better plan." Parr looked down at her mildly.

"We can steal a plane from one of the fighter bases." She snatched the map from a pocket on Snog's chair. "I can get in there and grab one easily. Then I can fly to somewhere flat and pick the rest of you up."

"What happens if you get caught?" Parr held up a hand to forestall any objection. "What happens if we don't make it out of the castle? Let's get down, then head to Einhorn. We do that part of things first. Then we steal a plane and get out of the country."

"If we all get killed at the castle?" Truax glared at him.

"Then we won't need a plane."

4

Snoggins brought the plane down on the river. He aimed for the center, watching out for rocks. He doubted it would be deep enough to cover the plane if they sank it. Some rivers were that deep, but not this one.

He coasted to a stop. The Goose settled on its pontoons as the engine whined to a stop. He would miss her. Reisman would have to get him money for a new plane when they got back.

"Grab anything that links her to us, Helen." Snoggins grabbed his case of maps and paperwork. "We don't want to make it easy for the Germans to find us."

Helen grabbed her own case, and the set of papers that had to be shown to customs when they arrived in foreign ports. She stowed them in the case before standing up.

"The river's not deep enough for us to sink her." Snog led the way to the cargo cabin. "I hope Parr has a better idea of what to do about the plane."

"Maybe he'll rip it apart with his bare hands." Truax smiled.

"He can't be that strong." The pilot paused. The cargo door stood open, and a trail of ice ran out of the back of the plane. Only Parr remained, scanning the banks of the river. "I could be wrong."

"We have to go." Parr waved them forward. "Frozone built a bridge to shore, and it's holding the plane, but it won't last forever."

"Come on, Helen." Snoggins went to the door. He tested the ice before stepping on it. He slid out on the white surface. "This is like an ice rink."

"Go ahead, Truax." Parr waved her after her partner. "We have to hurry up. Someone was bound to report a plane landing on the river."

Helen slid out on the ice bridge. She pushed a little with her feet and slid along like a penguin. She struggled to keep her balance. A spout of water jumped up to her left. Then she heard the crack of a rifle. She dove along the ice, sliding across its smooth surface.

She looked over her shoulder. Soldiers boiled out of the trees on the other side of the river. They raised rifles and shot at her, and the plane. She didn't see a tank, or a heavy machine gun. That was good from her perspective.

She grabbed the edges of the bridge and pulled herself along faster to get away from the gunfire. She thought she could take a bullet, but didn't want to find out.

Parr stepped out on the bridge. He shook his head. He bent down and lifted the plane over his head. The ice bridge cracked apart and he started floating downstream, the ice he was standing on pushing down in the water. He threw the plane at the arriving defenders.

He watched as the plane landed nose first in the trees. He doubted he had done anything to discourage the shooting, but at least he had attracted their attention from Snoggins and Truax.

He smiled. He had made himself a big blue target moving away from the action. He had to get to land before he floated too far away.

Parr dove into the water and started swimming toward the opposite bank from the soldiers. The water pushed him into a diagonal path but he would land below his friends. He would have to catch up with them.

A white wall sprung up between two trees as bullets whipped the air around Snog and Truax. She grabbed his arm and tried to hurry him to cover. Pieces of ice and wood hopped from the trees and wall under the questing impacts.

"Come on." Dicker sent single shots from behind the wall toward the other side of the river with a drum fed Thompson. "We have to get away from here before another patrol shows up."

Palladino stared across the river. A beam of light set things on fire as he looked across the water. Smaller trees fell over as the sweeping ray sliced through them.

Truax pulled the pilot behind the wall in the silenced battlefield. She frowned at the dozens of bullets stuck in the ice. She took a moment to catch her breath.

Dicker started off through the trees. He headed directly away from the river.

"Go ahead, folks." Gazerbeam waved his hand. "We have to get away from here as soon as possible."

He fired a few more blasts at the mess he and Parr had created. A whoosh of fire rewarded his efforts.

Frozone extended the wall on either side of his original shield before backing away. That should give them some cover unless a tank was brought up to shoot at them with its main gun. He started after Dicker.

"What about Parr?" Truax helped Snog forward with a hand on his arm. He wasn't in the best shape to be running for his life.

"He'll catch up." Palladino took Snog's other arm. "We have to go."

"He's right, Helen." Snoggins shook off their hands. "If the Nazis called in our position, these woods will be crawling with reinforcements any time."

"I don't like leaving someone behind." Truax started forward. "I've heard the stories."

"Don't worry about Mr. Incredible." Palladino fired another beam at the fire across the river. "He can take care of himself better if we're not around."

Dicker led the way. He paused every few minutes to listen. He didn't want to run into another patrol before he knew they were there. They needed some kind of car to get them away from the landing site.

Frozone followed, air chilling around his body as he jogged along. Anyone who jumped out at him would be covered in ice.

Truax and Snoggins struggled along behind the leaders. Snoggins held a compass salvaged from the wreck. He shook his head at the direction of travel. They were running away from the airbase and the castle.

Gazerbeam brought up the rear. His beam would dissuade any followers at least temporarily. No one wanted to be set on fire.

A blue blur dropped behind a tree. Palladino fired a blast to stop it from getting closer to his group. The tree sprouted a hole through its trunk.

"It's me." Parr called. "Don't shoot."

"Next time, make more noise." Gazerbeam smiled slightly.

"Where are we going?" Bob jogged up to follow the spread out line.

"Rick is leading." Palladino pointed. "I'm thinking he's looking for a road."

"We need to figure out what we're going to do." Parr scanned the trees. "The mission is sunk unless we can get to the castle without any problems. The army might be waiting on us now, if their local commanders are brighter than a light bulb."

"At least they won't shoot us as spies." Gazerbeam led the way after the others. "They'll take us apart to try to figure out what makes us tick."

"That's something I didn't need to know." Parr spotted the others taking cover behind trees and bushes ahead. He fell silent as he joined them.

Open fields led into a town in the distance. A road led into the set of red roofs. Bob spotted one sentry watching the fields. He stood out, standing at his post on the roof of a building facing them.

"We have to get through that town." Truax held up her map. "The airfield is on the other side of those buildings. We can get a plane there."

"The castle is farther along in that direction too." Dicker watched the road leading into the town. "Do we give up on getting in there?"

"They'll probably be looking for us to try something." Parr watched the sentry. "More soldiers could be on the way. We can't stay here for long."

"We won't be able to get to the Channel without some kind of transport." Snoggins looked at his compass. "It's that way and a long way on foot."

Parr considered the problem as he watched the town. They could steal an airplane. Gazerbeam and Frozone could handle guards and fences with their powers.

They needed speed to get any plan done. They needed a truck of some kind to get through the town and the guards. Then taking the castle, or the plane, would need some more planning.

Either way, they couldn't stay in one place for long. They had to keep moving.

5

"We're going to need a truck." Parr felt they could commandeer one when they saw it. "Then we'll have a choice of driving to the coast if we can, or using it to steal a plane and flying home."

"We can split up and a few of us can get a plane while the rest look at the castle." Best shrugged. "We won't have a lot of time after the raid on the enemy airfield."

"Scoggins, or Truax, would have to get the plane in the air." Dicker frowned. "If we lose both of them, we're walking home."

"Should we split up?" Parr didn't like that at all. Too many things could go wrong if they separated.

"I can get us a plane." Truax smiled. "Everyone will be looking for us to do that."

"How long will it take to fly from the airfield to the castle?" Parr thought about using the plane to attack the castle and escaping before anyone knew what was going on.

"A few minutes." Snoggins consulted the map. "We would need a plane that had a full tank so we could get as close as possible to the coast. Once they know what we did, they'll be on us like hunting dogs."

"If we drop you two off close to the base, could you steal a plane and meet us at the castle?" Parr saw that the real problem would be what was in the castle. "We'll need time to get there on land and sneak in if we want to see what's going on."

"The snags in your plan are how do we get to the castle, and how do we let them know to come get us?" Dicker shook his head.

"The biggest snag is how do we get a truck without alerting the army we're still here." Gazerbeam watched the trees behind them. "We put a dent in that patrol, but if any of them called their position in, we can expect to see more troops."

"We're going to need to sneak into that town and look around for a truck, or two cars." Parr's face hardened on the decision. "We have a few hours to do that. Then we'll have to find a spot to hide out from the search. Then we hit the airfield and castle the next night."

"We start taking sentries?" Best frowned.

"If we have to." Bob looked at the watchman on the roof. "We're going to have to sneak around as much as possible until we get out of town. Then we'll have to hide anything we can take from the search party that will happen in the daytime."

"Sounds sketchy." Rick checked the drum of bullets in his Thompson. "At least we can use the trees to get close."

"We'll work around and see what we can before we try to get pass the garrison." Parr nodded. "If things go bad, we go to ground and try to work our way overland back to the Channel."

"You guys already wiped out a patrol." Truax smiled. "How bad could things get?"

"We got lucky because they didn't know what we could do." Parr shook his head. "Sooner or later, they'll smarten up and things will get rougher after that."

"Truck coming." Gazerbeam pointed at the personnel carrier. "That's what we need."

"Let's see if we can beat it to the other side of town." Parr led the way through the trees. "Maybe we can ambush it on the road heading north."

"If they stop." Snoggins gauged the speed of the truck as he jogged along. "They might not slow down enough for us to get ahead."

"We'll worry about that when we get to where we can ambush them." Parr paused when he thought he saw a light play through the sky. He didn't want his group discovered sneaking around.

"Go ahead, Mr. Incredible." Best waved him forward. "We'll catch up."

Bob nodded. He jogged into the trees. He spotted crossroads as he looked into town. He would have to get around the buildings and back in the clear before the truck could drive through. If the town was full of winding streets, they might have to slow down. Straight roads wouldn't affect their speed unless they stopped for some reason.

Would they stop to have dinner, or to get some sleep in the local hotel?

Either would buy him time to get in position. It might buy enough time for Lucius and Simon to catch up and help out.

"You're pretty fast for such a big guy." Truax jogged behind him, avoiding the branches of trees as best she could.

Bob paused. He didn't see anyone else around.

"I didn't think you could keep up with me." He looked behind her. "The others?"

"Struggling along." She shrugged. "I think Frozone wanted to forge ahead on that ice of his, but didn't want to leave a trail."

"We're going to see if we can find an ambush site for the truck we saw, or another one." Bob pointed ahead. "If any fighting breaks out, let me handle it."

"I have been known to punch men out, you know." Truax gritted her teeth. "I'm not some gentle flower."

"Can you lift a truck over your head?" Bob started out again. He looked for places to launch an attack from cover as he moved forward.

"When you put it like that, no." Helen frowned. "But I can still take part."

"We're going to need a lookout to let us know if anyone comes from town." Bob paused when he reached a grove of trees close to the road. He looked back at the town. "Frozone, or Gazerbeam, should be able to handle that. We're also going to need a driver if we do take the truck."

Helen looked around the grove. She frowned at the bushes in the shadow of the trees around them.

"What are we doing?" She leaned against a tree.

"This is where we're going to get our truck." Bob smiled. "We'll need someone on the other side of the road, but there's not that much cover."

"I can do that." She looked at the short grass off the side of the road. "How do you want to do this?"

"I'll stop the truck." Bob indicated a tree with one hand. "We rush to take out the driver and passengers. You'll have to take the driver on your side of the road."

"He'll never see me coming." Truax nodded. "If there is more than a driver and a passenger?"

"If the others get here before the truck, we'll use Rick and Gazerbeam to cover the back." Parr pointed to a spot back the way they had jogged. "Snoggins will have to hold back until we're done."

"Frozone will be the lookout?" Helen had seen him freeze a wall of ice for cover. That could be useful.

"He can skate on the ice to get to us, he can hold off reinforcements from town, and he can shield us as we drive away." Parr ticked off the points with his fingers.

"So all we can do now is wait?" Truax looked at the town. Lights blazed in windows for the moment. "What if the truck doesn't come?"

"Then we'll have to go into town and get one." Mr. Incredible shrugged. "We can't stay here more than a few hours either way."

Truax nodded. The sun would be up soon and that would hinder them more than anything.

"Do you really think you can blend into the grass?" Parr looked across the road. "There's hardly any cover over there."

"They won't see me at all." Truax smiled. "Don't worry about that."

"Lights." Parr spotted the tiny sparks getting closer. "Go ahead before they get close enough to see you crossing the road."

Truax ran across the road, keeping low. She dropped to the ground and flattened in the grass. She vanished in the dark.

Bob paused. He couldn't see her at all. He had expected to see some movement, but he was surprised that she had blended in so well.

He shook his head. He had a job to do. He hoped she could grab the driver like she said she could.

He picked the heaviest looking tree in the grove. He watched the truck coming down the road. The driver didn't seem to see the others coming along the road. He didn't see them either. He made sure the tree wouldn't come down where Truax waited. Then he pushed on the trunk, pulling the rest up from the ground. He let it fall in front of the truck.

The squeal of brakes accompanied the truck stopping. The doors opened.

Bob grabbed the passenger and punched him before he could say anything. He didn't want to alert the driver that something other than a tree falling on the road was going on. He heard the thump of bone on metal and hoped that was Truax doing her part.

He ran to the back of the truck. Men shouted for answers. He had to stop them before they got out and spread apart.

Soldiers looked at the man in blue and black as he rounded the corner. They started reaching for rifles to shoot this masked stranger.

Parr jumped into the back of the truck. He swung his fists with abandon. The soldiers bounced around inside the canvas cover. He punched the last one standing a few seconds after boarding the carrier.

"Not bad." Truax smiled from the back of the truck. "You missed one."

She indicated a soldier laying on the road with a bloody nose.

"It looks like things worked out better than I thought." Parr looked at the soldiers. "Let's get these goons out of here and into the trees."

"I knew you wouldn't wait for the others." Truax pulled the driver and the one soldier she knocked out behind her as she dragged them into the trees.

"I knew we could handle it." Parr chucked the troopers off the truck. He looked around for something to use to tie them up.

"Sure you did." Helen smiled. She pulled the next pair of soldiers behind her toward the trees.

"You guys take away all the fun." Best arrived in his pale blue suit. That and the white hood gleamed in the dark.

"We need to tie these goons up, Frozone." Parr jumped down and grabbed some of the soldiers and piled them on his shoulders. "Then we can start working on the rest of what we need to do."

"Got it." Best started dragging men into the trees. When they had the whole compliment together, he encased them in ice so they couldn't move.

"That should buy us some time." He clapped his hands together when the job was done.

"Let's get the others and get this show on the road." Parr smiled at the glittering cage. "Good job knocking out the driver, Truax."

"Was there any doubt?" She smiled. "I have a great left hook."

Parr picked the tree in front of the truck up and replanted it where he had dug it up. He pushed dirt in around the edges to hide the changed root system.

"Looks like we're too late to be much use." Gazerbeam looked at the iced soldiers. "What's the next step?"

6

Snoggins got to drive the truck. He looked like just the type of guy who would get stuck hauling a crew around. Dicker rode shotgun. He held his typewriter below the door with his leg.

He wanted to be able to easily pull it on target if he needed it.

The rest rode in the back. Slits had been cut in the canvas cover so they could watch the road. Frozone had placed a wall of ice against the tailgate. They hoped it would act as a screen to keep the curious from seeing them in the back of the carrier.

The idea was to drive the truck up to the main gate of Einhorn Castle and break in as quietly as possible.

Naturally Bob expected problems to ensue when they did that.

There was also the problem of how they were getting out of Germany once they had escaped the castle with whatever they could seize for Reisman.

He had an idea if he could get Truax and Snoggins to go along with it.

Three of them would get inside the castle. He figured himself, Frozone, and Dicker could handle that. He didn't know how long it would take, but he supposed at least a couple of hours.

The other three could get a plane and fly back to pick up the three burglars. Snoggins and Truax would have to go on that team. Gazerbeam could protect them with his eyebeams.

The only thing that couldn't be controlled was the amount of time it would take to do either task.

Bob admitted it would be better for his state of mind not to have the civilians in the way for the main part of the mission.

"We're going to split up at the castle." Bob reviewed his plan before he stated it all the way. "Gazerbeam, I want you to help Truax and Snoggins to steal a plane. Try to get something that will land on water. We'll meet at the original extraction site north of here. The rest of us will get into the castle and look around."

"All right." Truax smiled. "I can finally get a piece of the action."

"You already had some action." Bob frowned at her. "And there shouldn't be any action. No one should know the plane is gone until after everything is done."

"You're a wet blanket." Truax crossed her arms and glared.

"Got it." Gazerbeam nodded. "It will take a while for us to drive back to the base."

"If we don't show up, fly home." Parr didn't want to lose anyone on this. He preferred to work alone when he could. "We'll figure another way to escape for ourselves."

"You're crazy." Truax shook her head. "You three won't make it."

"Sure we will." Best smiled. "We're superheroes. Nothing bad will happen to us. It's you that has to worry."

"We'll get your plane for you." Helen stuck her chin out and smiled. "You can take that to the bank."

"Good." Bob looked through a slit in the canvas. "We have to get off the road. Sun is coming up."

He banged on the back of the cab with a big hand. He didn't want to pull over, but he didn't want to run into a roadblock in the daylight. At night, they had a chance to confuse any soldier who got too close.

And the night would help cover any escape they might need to do.

The truck slowed to a crawl, then turned off the main road. It finally stopped amid scraping against the side. Branches beat on the canvas during the short off road trip.

"Let's see how much camouflage we need." Bob moved the ice screen out of the way so they could jump down to the ground.

The commandos dropped down to the ground. Snoggins had driven them into a stand of trees close to an open field. The road ran in a black ribbon in the distance. Flattened bushes marked where they had driven off the side road.

"Let's see what we can do about cover." Bob looked around. "We need to cover our tracks."

Frozone started straightening the bushes with his hands. It took a small amount of work to get them to stand up again.

Gazerbeam cleared their tracks with his eye blast. He made sure to rake the ground as far as he could see to blend in his work. It wasn't perfect, but it might fool anyone who didn't know what they were doing.

Bob uprooted two trees and stuck them back into the ground behind the truck. He picked trees that wouldn't expose them to view from the other sides. The branches combined with the bushes might block them from the road.

"We need to get some sleep so we can be ready for tonight." Bob saw the others drooping and knew that was the right thing to do. "I'll take the first watch."

"We're about halfway to the castle." Snoggins grabbed a place by a tree. "We should be there in a couple of hours."

"We're going to need you to drive back to the air base and steal a plane." Bob propped himself against a tree. "Do you have enough gas to get back?"

"Sure." Snoggins nodded. "I guess Hel and I can do it."

"Gazerbeam is going with you as protection." Parr watched the road. "They're going to be searching for this truck eventually. We're going to have to think of getting another one."

"Maybe we can get a farm truck, or something." Helen sat against a tire. "We're going to have to get food and water before we can worry about another truck."

"Good point." Mr. Incredible didn't turn his gaze from the road. Sooner, or later, something was going to come down it and change his current problem into something else.

Maybe some of the nearby houses had food that would tide them over until they reached the next part of their mission. They couldn't turn back, and the Army would be alert to their presence once they found the crew that had been left behind in the trees.

Eventually the countryside would be swarming with gray coats and steel pots. They had to get done before that happened. He figured at least another day, but he decided that the afternoon would be when they would start seeing troops being deployed.

They would have to think about where they were going, how they were going to do things, and staying out of the hands of the Gestapo.

He didn't want to be taken apart to see how he ticked. He was tough, but things could still hurt him.

He noticed a car speeding down the road in the distance. Maybe they had found the crew early. He might have to wake everyone up at twelve instead of two.

How much longer would it be before they started having trouble?

Parr knew he could escape on his own if he was forced to do that. He didn't like the thought of leaving his friends behind. Maybe he should have stayed home.

Going off on his own appealed to him, but he couldn't leave the others behind. It was bad enough they had to split up.

At least Gazerbeam would be able to get Snoggins and Truax on the base and to a plane.

Another car raced by in the same direction as the first. Other traffic verged on the slow and careful. Maybe they had already started their search pattern for the outlaws.

Parr looked at the truck. They couldn't take it with them. They needed another vehicle.

How could they get one?

He scanned the countryside for an answer. All he saw was an old wreck by a small house in the field below. They could take that, but how far would it take them?

He also didn't like taking things from civilians.

The enemy probably reckoned they were heading for Einhorn Castle. It was the only viable target around. They would flood the roads up to the castle with troops to protect it.

How did they get around that?

Mr. Incredible looked around from his point of view. He felt like they should move. It was an irrational feeling, but he decided that the others would have to wake up.

He nudged Frozone first. Lucius looked up, pulling on his hood.

"What's the problem?" He stood, stretching.

"We should move." Parr went to Truax and shook her. He shook his head as she started to ask what was going on. "Get Snoggins."

When everyone was awake and ready to go, Parr led the way from the truck. He headed away from the farm house. He didn't want to get the farmer involved accidentally.

The army wouldn't care if he was innocent. They would claim he was harboring spies and take him away for questioning.

Parr could do without that on his conscience. He led the way deeper into the trees. He hoped the wild patch went on for a while to hide them from the road.

"Looks like a search party." Gazerbeam whispered from the back of the group. They paused to look back. Bob thought he saw dogs leading handlers.

"They'll find the truck soon enough." Bob started forward. "They must be tracking along the road for it."

"What do we do now?" Snoggins wondered how he had let himself be talked into this string of problems.

"We get a truck and move back on plan." Bob paused to look around him. "They'll dog us until they catch us if we try to cross country on foot. We need to be able to move faster than a run."

"Any idea how we're going to do that, fearless leader?" Truax crossed her arms and glared at his back.

"Maybe." Bob turned right toward the road. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake. They had to do something to get out of their fix.

"What does that mean?" She threw up her hands as she followed along.

"It means he's planning on throwing you to the wolves if you keep making that noise." Dicker clumped past her with his typewriter in both hands.

Truax clamped her mouth shut as Frozone and Gazerbeam jogged by. A chill ran off the slim Best as he held his power at the ready.

Parr held up a hand. He paused by a tree. He nodded his head. His sudden idea was doable if they were silent and quick.

He drew them in a huddle so he didn't have to talk above a whisper.

"There's two trucks. It looks like no one is guarding them. We take one and ruin the other. We drive away." He considered the options. "We're going to have to be quick and quiet. Gazerbeam will have to ruin the second truck. Snoggins and Dicker will get the first one started and rolling. Frozone will have to get us some cover. Truax and I will handle any strays in the back of our truck when we take it."

"This is all kinds of bad." Frozone frowned. "We could be drawing more of them down on us."

"If we don't, they'll chase us down eventually." Parr shrugged. "We're buying time until we can think of something better."

"If we don't think of something better?" Truax didn't like that line of thought at all.

"Then they kill us and eat us." Parr returned her gaze with one of his own. He had a direction of movement. He was following it to the end. "They're not taking me without a fight."

"When do we do this?" Gazerbeam looked behind them. "The dogs are getting closer."

"We do it now." Parr broke from the trees.

"I hate when he does that." Frozone skated from cover on a bridge of ice.

"Come on, you two." Dicker walked out behind Gazerbeam. "You want to live forever?"

"Yes." Snoggins told himself as Truax pulled him along behind her.

Parr ran to the back of the first truck. No one was in the bed. He ran for the second. A beam of light sliced through the tires as he reached the back. No one remained in the back of the second truck. A wall of ice hovered in the air on the side of the truck facing the field. The first truck started in a cloud of smoke. Mr. Incredible ran to the back of the first truck, helping the others onboard before pulling himself up last.

"That worked out better than I thought." Truax smiled.

"We still might have trouble." Parr cut a hole in the cover of the truck with his finger. Soldiers came boiling out of the trees. Some readied rifles to shoot. Gazerbeam shot first in short pulses of light into their weapons.

The truck rolled on under the afternoon sun.

7

The commando team decided they needed to change their transportation as soon as possible. Word would have gone out about the stolen truck within minutes of them stealing it. The local garrisons would be aware of them moving across the country side.

They decided to disguise it by removing army symbols from the doors, and reducing the paint job to a primer gray color. The cab's roof and the fenders were removed. The frame of the cover had been cut away.

It looked like a farmer's truck that had been out in the weather for too long.

They hoped it looked like that.

"How long do you think it will take us to get to the castle?" Truax watched the sides of the truck as they rode along.

"We'll get there when we get there." Parr had a map in front of him. He looked around for a sign post as they rode along.

"Roadblock coming up." Dicker sat in front with his tommy gun in the floorboard. "Suggestions?"

"Frozone and I will have to get out." Parr looked up from his map. "Let's go."

"Really?" Frozone stood. "Second class citizen again?"

"You're welcome to stay and be interrogated when the soldiers stop us." Parr looked for a place to jump to from the truck. "The rest of you act normal."

He jumped over the side and landed in a pile of bushes. Some of the branches broke his fall, but not without trying to inflict injuries of their own.

Frozone landed beside him. He had used some ice and snow to direct his fall from the truck as it moved away. He peered through the bushes.

"What now, Bob?" He glanced at the bigger man.

"We have to get the others through the roadblock." Parr picked up a rock. "That means drawing some of the soldiers away from checking things out."

"How do we do that without getting shot?" Frozone watched as the truck joined the examination line.

"I think I can distract them with some rocks. See if you can get around them and snowball some of them." Parr picked up a few more rocks. "If we can lead them away from the roadblock, the others should be able to get through."

"Don't you ever get tired of winging things?" Best gave his friend a look.

"I like to be flexible in case a plan breaks down before I can put it in action." Parr smiled. "Go ahead. I'll start picking them off in a minute."

Frozone ran behind the truck as it rolled down the road. He slid across the road and ducked down behind another set of bushes and a tree. He frowned at the clear space between where he was and where the roadblock was set.

He would have to sprint to the roadblock, spraying ice as he went. If he missed, he would catch a bullet. He didn't like the thought of that.

Bob slung a rock from his set of bushes. One of the guards fell down. His helmet had a dent in it.

The other guards looked at their comrade. They hadn't seen the rock flying through the air, or the impact.

Another rock flew through the air with a low whistle. Another guard went down. The soldiers started looking around for a sniper.

Frozone skated forward on a trail of ice. He took aim as he rushed the gate. Ice flew as he headed for cover at the end of the line.

Some of the men had been hit and knocked over by the wave of ice. Some stepped back, taking aim down the street. A blue target was easier to shoot at than an unknown sniper. Bullets flew at the ice master.

Parr sent a barrage of rocks as he ran forward to get closer to the block. Some of the men went down from the impact. He smiled grimly.

He needed to keep their attention on him so Frozone could roll up their flank.

At least Snoggins didn't try to rush the gate with all the firepower being used. That would have gotten the truck riddled.

Some of the soldiers spotted Parr rushing toward them. They turned their guns to point at him. They opened fire at the big man as he ducked away from the road. Bullets tore up the ground.

Gazerbeam looked over the roof of the stripped truck. He fired a few pulses at the soldiers to get them to keep their heads down. No one noticed in the general melee because Frozone flung a snow storm like a blanket over the area.

"Drive." Dicker readied his Thompson. "Crash the bar while they're confused."

Snoggins pulled out of the line. He put his foot down on the gas, shifting gears. He passed the two vehicles waiting to get through the gate. He crashed the bar and aimed for open road beyond.

The other two hurried to get through the gate after him.

Frozone skated on a trail of ice to catch up. He followed the truck, struggling to build up speed. Then the truck stopped to make a turn, and he used an ice ramp to land in the back of the truck.

"Where's Bob?" He looked around.

Gazerbeam shrugged.

"Really?" Frozone looked behind them. A cloud of mist and ice covered the scene. "How is he supposed to catch up with us?"

"He's pretty fast." Palladino reminded the ice master. "How do we get a plane?"

"We'll have to steal one from that airfield." Frozone sat down. "It'll be harder to get into that castle without Bob."

"You're still thinking about getting in there?" Truax gave the costumed men a frown.

"I'm starting to get curious as to what's in there." Frozone smiled. "This is a lot of men running around. I can't see it's because of us. Commandos have been operating behind enemy lines before this. Security must be wound tight trying to find us and stop us from getting in there."

"So we're going to rush into the lion's den?" Helen's frown got deeper. "That doesn't sound like a good idea to me."

"No, we're going in, and you are stealing an airplane for us to make our daring escape." Frozone indicated whom he was talking about with a pointing finger. "Then we'll fly out of here and head home to get back to the normal crimebusting we usually do."

"You're that confident you can get inside without Mr. Incredible?" She crossed her arms.

"I taught him everything he knows." Frozone smiled. "I didn't teach him everything I know."

"Bob on the right." Gazerbeam broke in.

Frozone and Truax looked in the indicated direction. A figure in blue and black loped across some fields. He waved a hand as he ran to catch up.

"How fast is he?" Truax shielded her eyes with her hand.

"Don't know." Frozone glanced at Gazerbeam. The blaster shrugged. "We might want to slow down so he can catch up with us."

"Slow down, Snog." Truax leaned over the cab. "Mr. Incredible is trying to catch up with us."

"Really?" Snog looked around, checking his mirrors. "I thought we left him behind."

"He's on our four." Dicker nodded. "He must have cut a straight line to catch up with us so fast."

Helen reached out to help Mr. Incredible on board. She pulled and he vaulted over the side of the truck. She smiled as he landed quietly on the metal deck.

"Good job on that ice, Frozone." Bob smiled. "They were still trying to dig out when I sprinted around them."

"How are we supposed to steal a plane and meet you at the castle?" Truax crossed her arms.

"We're going to need to be dropped off first." Bob pulled out the area map again. "Frozone, Rick, and I will get in the castle. You, Snoggins, and Gazerbeam will have to get on the airfield and steal the plane. There's a town near the castle where we can wait while you get in position."

"It'll take us a couple of hours, Bob." Gazerbeam examined the map. "There's no way to time this together."

"If you can get the plane, we'll meet you here." He touched a dot in controlled France. "Say three days. If we're not there, take off and fly to England."

"Are you sure?" Palladino exchanged glances with Frozone.

"If we can't handle it, it's going to take a bigger force to crack than the six of us." Parr shrugged. "Not to mention, Snoggins and Truax are noncombatants. We're supposed to protect them as much as we can."

"Snog and I can take care of ourselves." Truax brushed her hair back from her face.

"Get the plane." Parr smiled. "If we don't make it back, you're going to have to tell Reisman what happened to us."

"We won't know other than you went into the castle." She huffed.

"That'll have to be enough." Parr smiled. "We'll wait until you guys are on your way before we make our move. That'll give the Germans something to worry about other than two harmless looking civilians and a nut in a mask."

"We'll be at the meeting point." Palladino rubbed his chin. "Don't worry about that."

"We have another fifty or so miles before we get to the airfield." Parr checked the map again. "We should look at what we can before the sun goes down."

"We could try to break in right now and steal a plane." Truax pointed out. "Then we can tell the major we couldn't get through for him."

"That would be suicide in the daytime." Parr shook his head. "Better to come back at night and steal one."

"Plus once we start looking around the castle, everybody will be flocking there to stop us instead of looking for you at the airfield." Frozone leaned back against the wall of the truck bed.

"We'll make the biggest distraction we can for you." Parr smiled.

8

The group looked up at Einhorn Castle from the village. The sun had started to set behind it. Bob rubbed his chin with one hand as he examined the edifice for a way in.

"I can get in there." Truax glared at him. "And get out without attracting attention."

"The whole idea is to attract attention." Bob didn't doubt her ability. He felt what he was going to do required a brute strength she didn't have. "It'll make it easier for you to steal the plane."

"Don't worry about it, Hel." Snog adjusted his cap. "We've done most of what we were supposed to do. We'll still get paid when we get back to England."

"We're going to wait the three days like we promised." Truax nodded at her own sentiment. "You better be there, buddy."

"Don't worry." Parr smiled. "If we're not there, we're never going to be there."

Gazerbeam nodded as he climbed aboard the truck. He gestured for the pilots to get in the cab so they could drive back to the airfield.

"He's going to have to learn to talk if he wants to be a lawyer." Frozone smiled as the truck pulled off.

"He could do so much better with his life." Bob smiled. "Let's see if we can get a closer look at the castle."

"So we're not waiting?" Dicker hefted his tommy gun. "I can't say I'm surprised."

"I just wanted Snoggins and Truax out of the way." Bob started toward the castle, slipping from shadow to shadow. The others followed. "Simon can keep an eye on them while we take care of things."

The castle had three towers making up the central keep. A square base formed a central hall for any visitors. A wall surrounded the castle. A moat ran around that.

It was two rings around a building like a town.

"We can scale the wall." Bob frowned at the towers that stood like sentries every fifty yards. "The guards might see us, might not."

Spotlights flipped on as the night grew darker. They walked the perimeter of the wall in lazy arcs.

"Any other complication?" Frozone stood by a tree. His blue and white costume didn't blend as well as Mr. Incredible's blue and black, or Dicker's commando gear. It made him an easy target if someone saw him.

"We can still get in." Bob examined the walls for blind spots he could use. "It'll just be harder than what I thought."

"Sneaking in looks like it's out." Dicker indicated the gate they could see from their hiding place. "Looks like they're checking all the cars and trucks."

"Let's start by trying to get to the base of the wall." Mr. Incredible pointed at the section of the wall he meant. "Think you can freeze the moat for us, Frozone?"

"Yeah." Frozone smiled. "I can build up a pile of ice under us to get us to the top of the wall."

"Rick and I will take care of the sentries." Bob nodded. "Then we can see what we need to get to the castle itself."

"Probably going to be a lot of guys on watch." Dicker slung his machine gun. "Most of these castles have towns around the center area. That's probably where the troops are housed while off-duty."

"We'll need to avoid the inner village while we're breaking in." Mr. Incredible nodded. "You guys ready?"

His companions nodded.

"Let's do this." Mr. Incredible started forward, watching the guard towers. If either one saw him, he would have to go to trying to smash a hole through the wall to get inside.

Frozone skated ahead of Parr. He froze the top of the moat so they could cross the ten feet of water without falling in. He paused at the base of the wall between two towers. He started creating his tower of ice after the other two joined him.

Rick fitted a silencer to his automatic. It wouldn't stop all the noise from a shot but it should keep things down enough for them to get by the rest of the garrison.

When they reached the top, he turned right and took aim. The guards were looking the other way. He could have easily have shot them in the back. Instead he went to the other side of the rampart and waited for Frozone to create a slide to the ground. He slid down that as quietly as possible.

Parr had the other side. He saw that one of the men opened his mouth to raise the alarm. He flung a rock and hit the guy in the head. The man went down. The other guard bent down to check on the man. Mr. Incredible was using bushes for cover by the time he looked back up.

The three men exchanged hand signs to indicate their route and who should be watching what. Mr. Incredible led the way, easing from one shadow to the next. Several guards who ran into him in the dark were left with concussions.

They paused at the base of the castle. Guards and lights roved quietly. At least they hadn't brought out any dogs. Maybe they felt they didn't need them with all the rest of the security wandering around.

Mr. Incredible checked down the wall on both sides. This was where things started to get tricky. They had to get in without running into security.

He didn't want to just break the wall down. He looked up. Light revealed a narrow window they might be able to use to get in.

He pointed. Frozone nodded. He could create another tower of ice to get them there. They just had to worry about a guard seeing it.

Out of their limited options, it seemed to be the best one for them to use.

The ice carried the three men up to the window. A guard stood there smoking a cigarette. He opened his mouth to shout the alarm. Rick shot him in the face first. He checked the hall as best he could in case he had to shoot someone else.

The window was too narrow for a man to get through. Bob grabbed the frame and pulled out a row of stone blocks. He waited for Rick and Frozone to step inside the hall before he pulled the blocks back in place behind him.

Rick and Frozone dragged the body into a closet. They dumped the guard and his weapon in a bin and covered the contents with dirty sheets. Hopefully they would be gone by the time someone found the body.

Mr. Incredible listened for more guards. They were alone at the moment.

Which way should they go?

He decided that up was as good as down in this case. They needed to find logs and information. He doubted that would be on the ground floor.

This was the kind of place where Frankenstein performed his experiments before he built his monster.

He ran into a group of guards at the next turn. They started reaching for weapons as he fell on them. Punches sent men flying before they could fire a shot. Frozone froze a couple when they fell out of the melee.

They hurriedly dragged the men to the closet. Frozone sealed the doorway with ice before they closed the door.

Bob shook his head as they restarted their climb. They were on a timer now. A whole patrol going missing would lead to people looking for them. Then it would hit the fan.

They found a variety of offices. No one was on duty. That meant the watch commander was in a different part of the castle. That was good for them.

The three of them hastily searched the file cabinets. Most of the paperwork was for construction orders and manpower. Frozone found an invoice for four apes. He shook his head as he put it back.

What did the Germans need with four apes?

Did he really want to know?

"There's nothing here but parts for machinery and modifications to the castle." Dicker looked grim as he closed a cabinet. "Whatever they're working on must be in one of the other towers."

"I'll go over and look around." Mr. Incredible went to the door and looked around in the hall. "You guys can wait here until I get back."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Frozone shook his head. "We should take a look and get out before something goes wrong. We can't stay as lucky as we have been."

Dicker nodded in agreement.

"We'll have to go down and take one of the other stairways." Bob didn't see a map of the place. "It'll be our best guess."

"Let's do it before they find the guys we stuck in the closet." Lucius went to the door. "At least we don't have to worry about them getting through that ice any time soon."

They descended the stairs as quietly as possible. They had to pause several times to let guards roam the halls in front of them before reaching the bottom of the tower. Bob listened to the air before picking the tower entrance across from the original. It had a wooden door that didn't stand up to his immense strength.

He put the door back in place after they were on the stairs leading up the second tower. Animal noises drifted down to them.

"They ordered four apes to be delivered." Frozone looked up the stairs.

"Test subjects?" Dicker didn't want to shoot a dumb animal.

"Let's go up and see." Parr started up the stairs. "Maybe we'll find what got Military Intelligence so stirred up they called us."

The three men crept up the stairs, checking the cross halls for guards before moving upwards. Their goal seemed to be at the top of the stairs. Sizzling wrapped the air for a moment as they paused before opening the final door.

Mr. Incredible grabbed the door. He noted it was locked. He pulled it off its hinges with one shrug of his shoulders.

The sound of heated air curled around them as they stepped over the threshold. They found the four apes. Metal gears and rods had been added to them. They glared at the three with anger in their eyes. They shrieked challenges at the newcomers.

"Looks like the apes were the experiments." Dicker looked around the room. "Let's see if we can find the notes and get out of here."

One of the animals roared at the intruders. He knuckled over to a box on his side of the cage. He opened it and pulled out a machine gun. He strapped a belt of ammunition from the box in place and took aim.

Mr. Incredible pushed the others back out of the room as bullets began to fly. Some of the equipment dropped dead from stray rounds.

"What idiot would give a monkey a gun?" Dicker put his pistol away and unslung his own machine gun.

"I did." A voice from below surprised them.

"Great." Frozone covered his face with his hand.

9

The infiltrators raised their hands. They had an ape with a machine gun waiting to shoot them if they entered the room behind them. They had a man in a suit of gears and pipes and a squad of soldiers aiming weapons at them in front of them.

"Mr. Incredible and Frozone." The man in the armor shifted to see out of the bucket that covered his head. "I don't know you."

"Why should you?" Dicker wondered if he could grab his machine gun on its sling and open fire before he was riddled with bullets.

He didn't think he could.

"I know most of the supers in operation around the globe on sight." The armored man tapped the side of his helmet with a gloved hand. "At least their costumes. So you are a spy for the Americans?"

"Let me spare you the trouble." Dicker pulled out a badge. "Richard Dicker, FBI."

"FBI?" Laughter sounded like tin scraping together. "And what brings one of Hoover's errand boys to Germany?"

"I have a warrant for Hitler's arrest for having a stupid mustache." Dicker put the badge away.

"You are either stupid, fearless, or blind." The man in the armor waved an arm at the squad behind him. It clicked as it moved. "We'll see which it is on the examination table."

"Stupid." Mr. Incredible broke in.

"Blind." Frozone smiled.

"Fearless." Dicker glared at his companions. "And good looking."

"I'll make you all better than any of that by the time I am done with you." The man in the armor let his arm fall as the soldiers moved forward.

"None for me." An ice wall sprang up between the heroes and the soldiers. "I like all my original parts as they are."

"How do we get out of this?" Dicker grabbed his machine gun. "We're trapped."

"We go through the wall." Mr. Incredible bent down and pulled out blocks from the wall. "Then we get out of here."

Bullets chipped at the ice. Frozone kept applying the cold to keep the soldiers trapped on the stairs.

An armored hand smashed a hole through the ice. Clicking and whirring accompanied it as it retreated.

Dicker stuck his tommy gun in the hole and pulled the trigger. He worked the muzzle left to right to clear the steps, emptying the magazine. He thought he heard the bullets ricochet but didn't worry about that. He stepped back so Frozone could close the hole.

"Let's get out of here." Mr. Incredible stepped out of the hole he had made. "We don't want him working on us like he did those monkeys."

"They're apes." Frozone put a few more layers on the ice wall before he ran to the gap his friend had opened. "I think they can understand English."

"Be serious." Dicker reloaded the typewriter as looked out through the hole. He looked down and then up. Men were running on the ground below. "We stirred up a hornet's nest."

"We need a bridge to that other tower." Mr. Incredible pointed at the one he meant. "We need it before Iron Head busts the wall down."

"Can you take him?" Dicker stepped out on the ledge. He pointed the machine gun in the space they had left. If the wall came down, he wanted to fill the first guy through full of lead.

"Maybe." Mr. Incredible frowned. "I don't want to do that with a bunch of guys trying to kill us while I'm trying."

Frozone concentrated on the space they had to cross. He took a breath in, then released a flood of snow and ice in the open air. It hit the other tower and remained in place.

"Let's get out of here before they decide to use grenades to stop us." He anchored the near end of the bridge to the stone beneath his feet. He skated across the gap.

Dicker ran across next, keeping his feet glued to the ice to shuffle along as fast as possible.

Mr. Incredible waited until the others were across the bridge before he started across. He winced at the sound of shattering ice. The mechanical man might be able to break the bridge while he was on it.

He flung himself on the ice. He slid across the bridge. He reached for the other tower as he glided to a stop.

The bridge broke free at the anchor point. It started for the ground. Bob heard gunfire, but he was concerned that he would hit the ground hard. He scrabbled for enough purchase to hop to the tower before the rest of the traverse gave way under him.

He landed and slid along the tower top. One hand grabbed the edge of the roof and stopped his motion. He looked up, glad not to have fallen to the ground.

He didn't think he could take the impact.

"We're sitting ducks out here." Dicker fired a couple more times at the window across the way. Bullets dug into the stone, with some actually flying into the other tower.

"It's the ape with the machine gun." Frozone hastily threw up a wall of ice between them and the armed primate. "Why would you make something like that?"

Bullets chewed up the ice wall, and the roof of the tower around it. Frozone kept applying more ice to the wall to keep from being shot to pieces.

A crash behind him indicated Mr. Incredible busting through the roof of the tower.

"Let's get off of this thing." He grabbed the wall and flung it at the ape trying to reload his weapon. The gunner shrieked as the block of ice knocked him out of the window.

Dicker dropped down through the hole. He watched for enemies coming from the steps. They were still in a sticky spot. They had to get out of the building if they wanted to escape.

What kind of crazy man made an ape smarter and gave it a machine gun?

Mr. Incredible dropped down in the tower room. He glanced around and shook his head.

"This is the room we needed." He indicated a row of file cabinets running along the wall.

"Too bad we've got to get out of here before the monkey kills us." Dicker went to the door, Thompson aimed at waist level.

Frozone dropped down in the tower. He sealed the hole behind him with ice. The army would have to dig through that to get at the three adventurers. That would give them plenty of warning.

"How do we get out of here?" He went to the door. Anyone trying to get in would be shot, or frozen.

"I don't have a clue." Mr. Incredible opened the file cabinets. He flipped through the pages. A low whistle escaped him. "This isn't good."

"Not now, Mr. Incredible." Dicker listened at the door. "We have to get out of here."

Bob looked around. He didn't see anything to use for a fire.

"Got a lighter, Rick?" There was no way he was going to leave these notes behind.

"Sure." Dicker handed over a zippo. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm hoping to cripple the research part of this place for a little bit until they can mount another operation to get at this guy." Bob picked the file cabinets up and dumped them out on the floor one by one. He smiled at the pile of paper.

A hairy fist punched through the ice seal in the ceiling. The multiple muzzles of the machine gun poked through.

Dicker turned and fired from the hip. His bullets punched through the ceiling. He didn't hear the sound of animal getting shot as the magazine pushed up the last bullet in it to be fired. He stepped back and dropped the drum to grab his last one from its bag,

He hadn't used so many bullets since they had caught up with Mad Mal McKinley.

Bob set the pile of papers on fire. He made sure to light in different places. He wished he had some kind of fuel to speed things up.

An ape dropped down in the room with them. It bounded for Mr. Incredible. He was glad it didn't have a weapon.

He could take a monkey.

"We've got to get out of here." Dicker slammed his last drum in place and pulled the bolt on the Thompson back.

Two more of the apes dropped down in the room. One shrieked, but both charged Rick and Frozone where they stood by the door.

"This isn't good at all." Frozone threw a cloud of ice at his enemy. The ape glittered for a moment before appearing to the side of the spray. "Not good at all."

Dicker fired at his ape. He only fired three times to preserve the rest of his ammunition. The bullets bounced off a field of light. He noted it as it flickered on impact.

"They're supers." He unloaded the rest of the drum on his ape to try to force it back.

Mr. Incredible's ape sent lightning shooting out of its hands at him as it charged. It hooted as it leaped the last few feet between them.

Bob dodged his attacker. He didn't want to let it touch him when it could shoot lightning. It would fry him to a crisp.

"Switch up." He leaped at the ape blocking Dicker's shots with the force field. His ape did the same thing.

Frozone turned and blasted an ice ball at Mr. Incredible's ape. Lightning blasted the ice into a cloud in front of it. It paused long enough for Mr. Incredible to slam into Dicker's ape. The light protected it from the impact, but it still flew at Frozone's ape. That ape flickered out of the way with a shriek. Dicker shot it in the face with his pistol. The ape went down in astonishment.

"One down." Mr. Incredible turned to face the lightning thrower. He frowned as he tried to think of a way to deal with it without touching it.

"Get the one with the protection." Rick took aim with his pistol. "You're the only one who can do anything about it."

"It's the machine gunner." Frozone set up a wall with a wave of his hand. Bullets chewed it up as he ducked.

"Got it." Bob leaped over and grabbed the arm of the ape holding the machine gun. He yanked it into the tower room. The ape threw a punch with the other arm to try to break his grip. He ducked the blow and threw the primate at his electrical cohort. Both apes went down on impact.

Rick fired his pistol at the apes. He hoped to kill at least one of them. His bullets produced steam, but the creatures were getting up and readying to get back in the fight.

The third ape charged back into the fray. Frozone froze the floor in front of it. It slipped and kept going. Its shield sparked as it bounced on the floor.

Mr. Incredible slammed the ape from behind. It raced at its comrades with cries of distress. All three hit the wall in a pile.

Bob leaped. He swung both arms together as he came down. He knocked all three of the mechanized marvels through the wall.

"This is an American weapon." Rick indicated the machine gun on the floor.

"We'll worry about that later." Mr. Incredible looked at the fire. It was miraculously still burning after all the ice thrown around.

"At least one of those monkeys is dead." Rick reloaded his pistol. "I'm out of bullets for the typewriter."

"How are we going to get out of this?" Frozone looked out the hole in the wall. "They look mad down there."

"We have to get out of here before they bring up some heavy stuff." Bob walked to the hole in the wall. He frowned at the crowd around the apes. He hoped he didn't have to fight the creatures again. They had lucked out against the experiments.

"Looks like a tank is being brought up." Frozone pointed at a box of lights rolling up the road. "This could be really bad."

"They won't shoot at the castle." Rick stayed by the door. "They'll try to wear us down with soldiers until they get lucky."

Bob pulled back from the hole in the wall and tried to think of a way out of their predicament.

10

"The first step is to get out of here and across the moat." Bob pointed at the wall that wasn't damaged. "Then we can try to make a run for it and lose them. If we stay here, eventually they'll overwhelm us. We can't fight the whole army. And all we have done is set back their research. The guy with the bucket on his head is probably their head researcher. They can duplicate everything as long as he's working for them. So we might have set things back a few years, but it won't take him long to get things back to this point."

"So we only slowed things down?" Frozone shook his head. "They'll just pack everything up and move it now."

"Maybe the Army can do something about that if we can take word back." Bob went to the undamaged wall. "If we don't get out of here, we'll be the next ones on an operating table with gears jammed where they don't belong."

He punched the wall. Blocks of stone rained down on the soldiers surrounding the building. They took cover from the sudden landslide.

"That's not good." He leaned out of the new door to get a better look at the ground. "It looks like they're bringing up a bazooka."

"You're kidding." Dicker looked away from the door. "We have to get out of here."

"Second that." Frozone went to the door. He stood on the other side of the opening. "Any ideas?"

"We'll have to cause a distraction and try to slide across the moat." Bob went to the empty file cabinets he had stacked after emptying. "If they get a clear shot with that bazooka, we're done."

"At least it isn't the tank." Dicker went to the machine gun. He checked the load. "Where did they get a Gatling?"

"Not now, Rick." Bob picked up one of the filing cabinets. "Let's see if we can get a distraction going."

"I got the distraction right here." Rick checked the belts for the rotary gun. He estimated about three seconds of firing with it. He made sure the belt wouldn't kink when he started shooting as he dragged the weapon to the door. "Get ready."

"Need a hand?" Bob stepped out of the way so the agent could point the machine gun out of their hole.

"Nah." Rick wound the crank on the side of the machine gun. Bullets ripped through the men and machines down below. He tried to concentrate his fire on the bazooka team but they dove for cover. The weapon emptied out. He dropped it from the tower.

"Let's get out of here before they get things back together." Bob pointed at the road beyond the wall.

"On it." Frozone leaped through the door, creating a slide as he went.

Bob followed, holding two of the file cabinets. They weren't particularly heavy but could act as a distraction. He saw men rushing from a guard tower. He let them have one of the cabinets as he slid along. They ducked back inside the room as it bounced back in the courtyard.

Rick held his fire. He just wasn't good enough with a pistol to shoot and hit something while sliding along on a sheet of ice.

They sailed over the wall and headed down to the village. People crowded the streets from the displays of gunfire and explosions. Then they saw Frozone's ice trail.

Soldiers in the crowd rushed forward. They took aim with rifles. These supers would know what it meant to invade the Fatherland. A file cabinet dropped down at the line. It crashed against the cobbled street as the men split apart.

Frozone dropped to the street, skating along on the ice sheet he made in front of him. He blasted a cloud of ice on either side of him as he fended off the soldiers.

"Car." Bob picked one at random. He checked the door. A lock resisted him for two seconds. He pulled the door off its track. He left the metal piece in the road as he got behind the wheel and hotwired the car to start.

Rick got in the backseat and kept his pistol in hand as he watched for the soldiers to retaliate from the clouds.

Eventually he would have to grab something from the enemy, or fall back to the knife on his belt.

"Cover, Frozone." Bob smiled when the car started up. "Let's get out of here while we can."

Best unleashed another cloud of ice as he ran around the car and got in the passenger side. He pulled the door shut as Bob hit the gas pedal and started out of the village.

"This was a failure." Bob slumped as he looked for roads going in the direction of where he wanted to go.

"We're alive." Lucius scanned the road around them. "That ranks as a win to me."

"Only if we get out of the country without getting killed." Rick checked the back window. "I'm almost out of ammo for my pistol. After that, I'm going to have to punch the enemy."

"We're going to try to catch up with the others at the airfield." Bob checked the mirrors. "That's our best hope right now."

"I'm with that." Lucius rolled back his hood. "At least we shut some of that monster making stuff down."

"We also found out a few things about the monster maker." Rick leaned back in his seat once he was sure no one was going to be shooting at them soon. "They just don't do us any good."

"If we had taken him out, that would have stopped things for good." Bob picked a road leading into the dark shades of the local forest. "Reisman might want us to come back and finish the job when he finds out."

"That's for next time, if there is a next time." Rick stretched out in the back seat. "Let's escape this time before we worry about that."

"The airfield is this way from the map." Bob pointed ahead. "We might have to get out and walk if we run into anything we can't move blocking the road. Gazerbeam and the others should be halfway there."

"They'll know that's where we're going to make our escape." Lucius frowned. "Every trooper within miles of the place will show up to take us down."

"We can make our break and head to the northern airfield." Best pointed back toward the castle. "That'll draw people away from the south once we hit there."

"We can't rescue the others if we get caught too." Rick liked the logic of it. Both groups remaining separate doubled the chances one of them would get home.

"So we need to drive in a circle and head north." Bob looked for a road turning off from the one he was on. "We might do better going cross country, than remaining with this thing."

"Staying on the road is a quick way to get caught." Best nodded, short hair gleaming with sweat. "Do you think you guys can keep up with me?"

"I can't." Rick decided to dump the typewriter. He didn't have any bullets for it. Cutting weight was needed in the situation they were in.

"I'll carry you." Bob had the strength to carry the car they were in like it was nothing. He wasn't as fast on foot as Lucius could skate.

"So we abandon the car and cut back north?" Best thought that would be a good piece of misdirection.

"We can expect that the northern base will be on alert too." Bob found a turn heading south. He pulled into it and parked in a stand of trees. "We'll have to get in and out as fast as we can."

"The major thing is if they bring in dogs to chase after us." Rick closed his eyes. "Whichever way we go, they're bound to double manpower at the airfields to stop us."

"I doubt we can drive to the border." Bob examined the angles. "Flying out of here is still our best option."

"We should try to meet with the rest." Frozone scratched his cheek. "The airfields will be covered, but maybe we can muscle through."

"We won't last three days on the run." Rick sounded like he was drifting asleep.

"So we go for the southern airfield and try to catch up with Gazerbeam." Bob started the car. "I think we have enough gas to give it a try."

"That guy was American." Lucius leaned back in his side of the car. "Why would he work for the Axis?"

"Why not?" Bob picked roads that he thought ran north to south as he looked for the airfield. "It gives him a lot of room to work. I'm sure those animals were the first step. Imagine soldiers like that. It would be supers on demand."

"Hopefully we got rid of his experiments to go with the notes you burned." Best watched the road go by.

"We're not done with the guy." Bob shook his head. "We're going to have to come back and take another stab at him."

"Let's make our escape before we start thinking of a rematch." Rick shifted in the back seat. "We need to figure out what his weak points are before we walk into another bad situation."

"We already know that armor makes him bulletproof and strong." Bob reviewed the encounter. "He's fast but not inhumanly fast. He's smart enough to keep his distance and use the Germans as cannon fodder before he unleashed the apes on us."

"He's also some kind of mad scientist." Lucius shuddered. "He built those apes for the Nazis."

"Probably built the armor too." Mr. Incredible paused at a crossroad. He turned right. "They were the same style."

"He might have contacts in the States." Rick frowned in the dark. "Why else give that ape an American weapon to use."

"It's a basis for a search, but it'll take years for Reisman to narrow down the potentials to the right man." Parr chuckled. "The war will be over by then."

"We'll be retired." Rick doubted he would ever retire. He had too much fun as a crime stopper.

"We're at the airfield." Parr pointed at the lights in the distance. "Looks like nothing has happened yet."

"Maybe Simon got them to a plane and they took off already." Lucius studied the quiet scene. "They had a big head start on us."

"We'll see." Bob pulled into a spot to hide the car. It looked like they had made a clean getaway from the castle. If they could get a plane, all they would have to worry about was evading the Luftwaffe until they got to England.

"Do any of us know how to pilot a plane?" Lucius got out of the car and examined the fence.

"I've had some lessons." Mr. Incredible got out of the car. He shrugged at the look that statement got. "I needed them to get around as an insurance adjuster."

Rick got out of the back after some adjustments to sit up. He checked his ammunition. He might be able to conserve bullets while they were sneaking around.

"We get over the fence, look out for patrols, and look around for a plane that looks like it's ready to go." Bob studied the scene as much as he could from lightpoles set up to catch people like him.

"Do we burn the place down?" Lucius pulled his hood down over his face.

"If we got the time." Rick pointed at the line of planes near the runway. "We'll definitely need to do something about those before we take off."

"Let's worry about the fence and the patrols first." Bob mapped out a direction of travel that would give them maximum cover and minimum exposure. He started timing the patrols so they could sneak by them.

Then one of the offices blew up in a gout of flame.

"It looks like Gazerbeam is on the job." Rick shook his head at the cloud of smoke.

"Let's go." Bob started toward the fence. "He's given us a distraction too."

11

Towers with spotlights marked a regular perimeter around the airfield. The lights had turned inward at the explosion across the base. No one looked down at Mr. Incredible and his friends as they snuck up to the fence.

Lucius tossed some ice on the chain links. Nothing happened. He nodded at Bob.

Mr. Incredible grabbed the fence and pulled the links apart with a simple spreading of his arms. He waited for Frozone to test the ground for mines before running to the other fence inside the first one. He ripped a hole in that one with the same ease.

They ran to the nearest building to evade the roving spotlights. Everyone was busy with Gazerbeam. That would stop if they saw more intruders on the grounds.

They snuck along toward the hangars. Crackling filled the air. Another much bigger explosion shook the ground.

"What is he doing?" Rick looked at the rising cloud of smoke and the tower of flame beneath it.

"Might have hit an ammo dump." Bob didn't have time to worry about that. He wanted them out of there. "Head over to the planes and see if you can find Snoggins and Truax. I'll get Gazerbeam."

"Right." Frozone looked in the aisle between buildings. "Come on, Rick."

Best skated across the corridor and vanished in the dark. Rick checked for patrols and ran after the ice master as silently as he could.

Bob headed for the burning fire. He wondered if Gazerbeam was mobile, or had picked a place to make a stand. His heat vision was formidable, but a bullet could stop him just like anyone.

He climbed to the top of a barracks. He picked out a path across the nearby roofs with ease. He paused when he saw Gazerbeam holding off a squad of soldiers trying to get a clear shot at him. Small pulses of light stood out from the open flames of the burning buildings across the way.

Bob whistled to get Gazerbeam's attention. He didn't want to be shot at while trying to help his friend. Palladino looked up and nodded. He was ready for whatever followed.

Bob punched a hole in the building. He dropped down on a group of soldiers trying to sneak up on the deadly menace destroying their garrison. He picked up a desk and used that as a flail to clear the space around him. Troops went flying from the bone shattering impact.

The strong man went to the wall facing the small combat taking place in front of the building. He kicked a section out easily. He took aim with the desk as bullets flew around him. He bowled over two of the soldiers on the ground.

More furniture followed. The soldiers scattered to avoid being crushed by a desk, or chair. Some didn't make it.

Gazerbeam burst into the building. He sent more of his red pulses at the crowd before running through the building. He was aware the Army would squash them with manpower if they didn't get clear.

Palladino ran outside at the opposite end of the building. He spotted more patrols. They spotted him and raised weapons to shoot. He sliced the air in front of him with a red blade of light. The slow men fell to the ground in pieces. The others made it to burning cover.

"Follow me." Mr. Incredible ran past and smashed into a building like a bull in a china shop. Gazerbeam followed, blinking his eyebeam at anything that looked like it needed to be on fire.

The two of them cut a straight line through the buildings. Occasionally one of them had to hurl a piece of furniture or heat at a target to keep heads down. Mr. Incredible headed for the runway.

Frozone and Rick better have a plane ready after all this.

"Snoggins and Truax?" Bob paused to get his bearings.

"I sent them to get a plane ready while I drew fire." Simon took a breath. He sounded calm about setting buildings and men on fire with his eyebeam as a distraction. "The castle?"

"Fubar." Mr. Incredible saw a plane rolling on the runway. He smiled. "That looks like our ride. Let's get out of here."

He set a line of travel to catch up with the plane as it taxied toward the end of the runway. He spotted Truax and Frozone in the opened door. They waved at him to run faster.

Gazerbeam set planes on fire as he ran after his friend. Red pulses punched holes in the metal skins as he ran on the runway.

"We're not going to make it." He called as he ran after the bigger man.

"You will." Bob grabbed him and flung him toward the plane. Frozone and Truax caught him and pulled him on board.

Mr. Incredible ran down the runway after the plane. He heard a vehicle coming on the strip after him. He would have to stop and deal with them. At least the others had a chance to get out of there.

It looked like he was on his own. He was okay with that. He liked to work alone anyway.

A tentacle wrapped around his waist as he examined the car full of soldiers bearing down on him. He looked down in surprise. Then he was flying in the air.

He looked up.

Helen Truax's arm was stretched out behind the plane as it lifted away from the ground. It looked like a cable as she tried to pull it back in the plane while lifting the masked man at the same time.

Bob grabbed the arm as he swung under the tail of the plane. He looked down at the ground. The soldiers looked amazed to him.

He felt the same way.

No wonder Truax had been asked to come along. He had wondered why. He could be jumping to conclusions. Maybe the army didn't know she was elastic.

Frozone appeared at the door. He began pulling on the arm like it was a rope. It retracted faster. Bob grabbed the edge of the door when he was close enough and pulled himself in the rest of the way.

"Thanks for the save, Hel." Bob smiled. "I thought my goose was cooked."

"So the mission failed." She gave him a frown to say she could have handled some monkeys.

"Pretty much." Bob shrugged. He pulled the door shut. "We think maybe we burned most of the records and dealt with at least three of the subjects. It depends on how tough they are. Rick definitely killed one."

"So we're going to have to come back and take care of this guy?" Truax crossed her arms.

"We can't let him run around loose." Bob shrugged. "He's making supers with his technology. That has to be stopped before he changes the balance of power."

"This is your captain speaking." Snoggins broke in on the PA. "Better strap in, kids. We got company on our tail."

"It never ends." Rick looked at his pistol. It wouldn't bring down a plane unless he hit the pilot through the cockpit.

That was piece of luck no one would count on in a million years.

"We can climb out of reach if we hurry." Hel went to the cockpit. "Out of the way, G-man."

Rick gave up the copilot seat. He went back to the cargo space. He found a small seat and strapped in. He might as well be in place for the crash and burn.

"Open the door, Bob." Frozone smiled. "I got some juice left."

The plane tilted as Snog and Hel pulled the wheel back. Bob grabbed the walls before sliding down in the tail section. Frozone and Gazerbeam used straps to hold themselves by the door.

"Come on, Bob." Frozone waved the other man to get in place. "We can take these guys if we had some way to shoot."

Mr. Incredible undid the hatch and slid it out of the way. He held himself in place by the edges of the door. The wind whipped at his face as the plane continued to climb. Red sparks marked tracers in the air.

"Eat some of this." Frozone stuck his hand out of the door. A giant snowball fell toward the ground.

The chattering of machine guns answered his attack. Holes appeared in the tail.

"Need to work on your aim, Lou." Gazerbeam leaned out of the door. He braced himself against the edges. He spotted the two planes following them down below. He directed a line of fire into the leader. The plane veered away from the searing beam.

"It looks like you need to work on yours too." Best smiled. "Bet you I can take one down before you do."

"Five spot?" Gazerbeam concentrated on his chosen target.

"Why not ten?" Lucius grinned now.

"You're on." Gazerbeam looked at the plane turning to get back into formation. He pulled off his hood and opened his eyes as wide as he could. The beam filled the sky with the speed of lightning. Both planes blew up. "Where's my money, sucker?"

"I'll have to owe you." Lucius and Bob exchanged looks. Neither man knew he could do that.

Palladino pulled his hood up over his face.

"Let's get this door closed." He helped Frozone out of the way as Bob pulled the door closed.

The plane leveled out as soon as Snog noticed they weren't being chased anymore. The cabin was freezing cold as they hurled through the air.

"We're on course for the Channel." Snog sounded more confident in the air. Maybe the PA just made him sound that way. "We got enough fuel to reach England. So sit back and enjoy the ride."

"This is where we have to get in another dogfight and try to stay alive with no cover." Frozone looked around. "Maybe we can enjoy the ride."

"Doubt it." Simon found a seat and strapped in. "At least we wrecked that fighter base on the way out even if we didn't complete the mission."

"There's nothing we can do about it now." Bob went to a seat and strapped in. "We had the one shot and missed. Intelligence will have to figure what to do with what we did find out."

"Stupid mechanical monkeys." Frozone sat down and pulled his mask back. "Who would build a thing like that?"

12

Herr Mechanical looked at the two broken apes on the ground. He held his anger in under his helmet. Feinstein sat on all fours next to him. The shield had protected the survivor from the impact.

The ape made noises he equated with sorrow. It was a small distraction. He didn't need any at the moment.

He had to get his dead together and evaluate what had happened against Mr. Incredible and his allies.

"Your so-called super weapons lost." Colonel Metzger appeared with his aide at his heels. "How do you explain that? You have spent much of the Reich's gold for nothing."

"Not for nothing." The armored man turned a cold gaze on the officer. "How did the Allies know we were working here?"

"I have no idea." Metzger glared at him. "That's not the point. You assured High Command that you could build a super with your mechanical devices."

"And I did." Herr Mechanical gestured at his experiments. "And they were killed by supers who infiltrated the base."

The ape glared at the Colonel. It bared its teeth at the thought of smashing him into the ground. It would be nothing for its augmented strength.

"Then they were defective, weren't they?" The officer smirked at the bucket.

"They were experimental and not ready to be in a combat situation." Herr Mechanical raised his hand. "They were supposed to be used on specific missions after they were taught to do everything they needed for that mission. You and your men were supposed to keep them safe until they were ready. You're defective."

"You miserable foreigner." The Colonel looked around for men to order them to take the metal man away.

The Reich would dissect his armor from him and make as many as they needed.

"You stupid scum." Herr Mechanical slid forward, swinging an arm. The Colonel turned back to catch his metal fist in the face. He went down in a spray of blood. "You cost me years of research, months of work, and three good subjects. I would love to work on you, but I don't have time."

Herr Mechanical brought one foot up and then down as hard as five hundred pounds of metal could be on the soldier's head. That will teach the others about losing experimental subjects when he was around.

"You." He pointed at one of the soldiers watching what was going on. "Come here."

The soldier approached warily. He liked his head the tubular shape it had turned into as he grew into adulthood. Having it crushed flat would do nothing for him.

"Yes, sir." He looked up at the eyes glaring behind the bucket's awheel covers.

"Take Feinstein upstairs and give him some food." Herr Mechanical indicated the ape should go with his conscript. "Then arrange for my dead apes to be taken to my lab, put out that fire in the records room, and burn Metzger's body. Get as many men as you need to do the jobs I have given you."

He knelt and took Metzger's rank off the bloody uniform coat and handed them over his new chief of staff.

"If anyone doesn't like it, tell them to come talk to me." Herr Mechanical studied his dead apes. He looked up as the soldier tried to think of a way to lead the ape away from his brothers. "Give him an order. He will follow it."

"Come with me, Feinstein." The soldier nodded when the ape looked at its master before walking with him to the tower where it lived. He passed orders along as he went, flashing his new rank to get his way. A damage control team began to work their way up to where Mr. Incredible's small fire had spread beyond what he thought it would.

Herr Mechanical cursed himself for not seeing this coming. There were bound to be leaks. His countrymen would act on that. They would send whatever human weapons they could get a hold of to stop him.

He should have seen all of that. He had been as blind and overconfident as the late Colonel Metzger.

He had to get the operation running again, and explain what had happened to Metzger's superiors. The funding might dry up before he could make and train more minions to carry out the type of mission carried out against him. He might have to fight his way clear of the country and start over somewhere else.

At least the enhancements had performed as he had predicted. He still had the plans for the devices he had used. He kept them in a compartment in his armor for his personal scrutiny.

Giving his discoveries to the Reich would only be on the minimum level while he kept expanding his research.

Too many madmen ran things at the upper levels. He preferred the army people he had been given. They only turned on you when ordered.

"Sir." A soldier ran up with a note in hand. "The southern airfield has been attacked. The intruders got away before fighters could be scrambled from the north."

"We have our own mess to clean up." Herr Mechanical didn't care if the whole base had gone up in smoke. It was nothing compared to his research. He relented as he thought about the implications. "Talk to the field commander and see if he needs help to get things back under control. Once we have our own situation back in hand, we will send him some help."

"Yes, sir." The soldier ran off to relay the message through the castle radio room.

One more problem to handle. He would dump it on the new chief of staff as soon as he saw the man.

Two squads of soldiers arrived. They had what looked like metal stretchers. They slid them under the apes and lifted with some effort. They took care not to drop the corpses.

"The lab, please." An armored hand pointed at Tower One. "I have work to do."

Another soldier ran up with a gas can. He stripped the identification and personal effects from Metzger's corpse. He put them in a bag and set the bag aside. He poured gasoline on the body and set it alight. It would take a while for it to burn down. When it did, they would put it in a metal drum and send it somewhere.

He handed the personal effects to Herr Mechanical with a salute. He hurried off to get the drum he would need and a shovel.

The new colonel arrived. He nodded at the missing animals, frowned at his burning predecessor. He should have been more specific about how to deal with the body.

"This is his things." The armored scientist handed over the bag. "Send them where they need to go."

"Yes, sir." The colonel tucked the bag under his arm. "I will have engineers here in a few hours to correct the holes in the walls made by the Americans. The fire has been put out, but most of the paperwork in Tower Two's archive was destroyed."

"That was to be expected." Herr Mechanical nodded inside his helmet. "Our wounded and dead?"

"Being treated in the infirmary, and being readied for burial." The Colonel nodded. "Will you fill out the letters to their families?"

"No." Herr Mechanical hated to admit it but he didn't know any of the men that had been ordered to secure the Einhorn. "It would come better from someone who knew them and worked with them. I only knew Metzger."

"I will take care of it, sir." The Colonel frowned. He didn't want to write letters informing people their loved ones were dead, but it had to be done.

"I need one more thing, Colonel." The scientist knew his enemy. He needed to know how to get at them from beyond the ocean. "Find out everything you can about Mr. Incredible, Frozone, and Richard Dicker."

"I will call headquarters and have our agents work on it." He nodded. "I will assemble the file for you as soon as I can."

"Thank you." The armored man looked south. "The southern airfield was attacked. They requested help."

"I sent some men down to look at things." The Colonel nodded. "The Americans burned some of it down from the radio report I was given."

"Good job." Herr Mechanical smiled. "I need to put you in for the promotion as Metzger's replacement. What's your name?"

"Wilhelm Klink, sir." Klink nodded. "I doubt that I will be allowed to remain as your aide. More senior men will be considered first."

"Not by me." The armored man started for the castle. "Keep things running smoothly, security ready to deal with Mr. Incredible and his friends when they return, and better security over all. We don't want them waltzing in here so easily the next time."

"I will go over things with the staff." Klink didn't bother saluting. The American didn't seem to care for that sort of thing, and he liked having his head in its original condition.

The soldier returned with a barrel on a dolly. He set it down carefully beside the still burning Metzger. He had a shovel under his arm. He used that to scoop the burning mess into the barrel. He tamped the lid down tight.

"What are you going to do with that?" Klink frowned at the man, hands clasped behind his back.

"We're going to bury it in the village square as a hero of the Reich, sir." The soldier saluted when he noticed how high a rank was addressing him.

"I don't want to find this barrel being used as some of decoration." Klink gestured at the metal drum. "Understood?"

"Yes, sir." The soldier wheeled the barrel off on the dolly.

The End


End file.
